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Powers in lead for president’s post

It appears that Ward 5 Councillor John Powers will be the new Council President come January.

Powers indicated that at the moment he has eight committed votes, plenty to score the leadership position. He was also elected Council President a few years back.

“I believe I have the votes,” he said on Tuesday. “I have eight commitments and you need six. Right now, it looks positive.”

While anything could happen between now and January 3 – when the Council will elect its new officers – Powers does appear to have a leg up on any other candidate, and there really aren’t any others making a big run.

Whoever does get the position will have two big things to contend with: shrinking budgets and election year politicking.

With an already hot mayoral race and an upcoming Council race, meetings will be rife with public service announcements and infighting between the various political camps.

Powers said he has some ideas to help combat that situation.

“If elected, I’m thinking of making a rule change to where a councillor speaks only one time on a motion,” he said. “There’s a lot of redundancy…It is an election year and I understand fully everyone wants to be heard and recognized. There’s room for that, but I think we can do it more efficiently.”

As for the upcoming budget year, he said there isn’t much left to cut from what is already a bare bones budget.

“Revere and all cities and towns in the Commonwealth are economically under siege right now,” he said.